


Constant

by fandomramblings



Series: Season 3 Malex [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Minor Max Evans/Liz Ortecho, Supportive Liz Ortecho, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25456225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomramblings/pseuds/fandomramblings
Summary: Alex confides in Liz about Michael after the elevator incident in part one.
Relationships: Alex Manes & Liz Ortecho, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Season 3 Malex [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838704
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	Constant

**Author's Note:**

> Sequal!

Once Michael was out of the lab Alex looked up from the tray of Petri dishes he was pretending to examine. His heart was still pounding from when Michael had kissed him. 

He had stood in that elevator once Michael had run out, trying not to move or think. If he didn’t think about it further it didn’t happen. Michael clearly regretted it. He was out of there like a comet. It was only when the elevator doors were about to close again that Alex broke out of his stupor. He had shoved his prosthetic in the gap and the doors opened again. Then he’d headed down the hallway towards the lab. If he walked slowly enough he might arrive and Michael would already be gone. It was for the best. The past few dates with Forrest had been so much fun, and he really cared about Alex’s music. He was such a creative writer and helped a ton with lyrics, which Alex often struggled with. Who cared if something was missing. If the passion only came along with pain then Alex preferred to do without it. At least he thought he did, but that kiss in the elevator, the way Michael held him and… No! He shook his head as he reached Liz’s door as if to fling the thought from his brain.

Michael had still been there when Alex walked quietly through the door, because of course. Luckily he had his head out the window, which allowed Alex to recover from the sight of him. If Liz noticed the slight widening of his eyes, she didn’t comment. 

"Oh hey Alex.” she said once he’d stepped in the room. Alex gave her a smile that he hoped didn’t look fake and moved out of the way of the door over to the table in the corner. 

Michael stiffened and said, “I’ll just go put it in your car.” 

“Oh okay, thanks. My parking space is spot 4.” Liz told him. She’d sounded casual but did have one eyebrow a bit raised.

Alex peaked at Michael out of the corner of his eye. He had turned from the window now, his gaze affixed to the floor. Alex looked quickly back down at the dish. Despite the cool room, he was sweating. Then Michael was off toward the door like a shot and gone.

Liz turned to Alex once Michael had left. “Okay, what the hell Alex?”

“What?” He said innocently, walking towards her. “You almost done here? I thought we could go for a walk?”

Liz didn’t respond to that. She just put her hands on her hips.

Alex shifted on his feet. So much for acting casual. He really didn’t want to talk about what had happened. And if he knew Liz, and he did very well, she would want every detail. A good scientist gathers all important data before coming to a conclusion after all.

“How’s work?” he tried again.

“¿En serio?! Michael was acting like a child on their first day of kindergarten and you were acting like a robot. What happened in that elevator?” she asked.

Alex’s eyes widened. How did she know?

“Michael told me the elevator got stuck and that’s why you were delayed, but he didn’t say anything else,” Liz responded to his look of surprise.

“Nothing,” Alex said on impulse.

“Did he do something? Say something? Cause I know he’s got the tough cowboy act and all but I can totally take him!”

Alex smiled slightly at that and then sighed.

“Come on. Talking will make you feel better. I am quite an expert on alien romance if I don’t say so myself.” Liz insisted. 

Alex thought of resisting further, but then gave in and plopped down in a chair.

“I had this plan,” he said. Liz waited patiently for him to continue.

“I hadn’t expected to run into him you know,” he said after a while. She nodded.

“But I managed to keep my cool. I tried to keep things casual. We haven’t spoken much lately since everything with crash con and the open mic…”

Liz spoke again when Alex trailed off. “You hadn’t expected him to be there then either and to hear you tell it, you guys had a moment that was anything but casual.”

“I know.” Alex groaned. “But then he left. And I had invited Forrest and I was so ready to move on Liz. I really was. So I kissed him afterwards and it felt great. Freeing! And the last couple weeks with him have been great. Michael kept his distance and I was relieved.”

“So, the song…” Liz urged.

“I meant every word Liz. I did. But he left and I don’t know, I guess I took it as a sign. That it was time to move on.”

“But you didn’t talk to him. You say he smiled at you while you sang the song and then the next time you looked up he was gone. But you don’t know why he left Alex, not really! It could have been for so many reasons!”

“I know how he feels Liz. He wants Maria. He wants easy. He doesn’t want me anymore.” Alex was pleading with her to understand.

Liz stood up suddenly and began to pace. “No puedo creer esto! You can’t know what someone else is thinking or feeling Alex! Ever! Unless you ask them.”

“Michael is…” Alex began but Liz cut him off.

“Before I left. What Max did.” She cringed like the name hurt her. “He didn’t talk to me. He made the decision on his own, just like he always does. And I don’t know if I can forgive him this time. I don’t know if we can ever get back what we had. Communication is so important Alex. And I love you so much; I just can’t watch you make the same mistake. The only way to know how Michael feels, to know where you stand, is to talk to him!” She enunciated the last three words and Alex sat there, stunned.

“I can’t,” Alex whined, and he hated how pathetic he sounded. 

“Did he tell you why he left during the song, in the elevator?” Liz asked, sitting across from him again. Alex shook his head. 

“Okay, step one,” she continued, now in a professorial tone. “Tell me what happened.”

Alex appreciated the change. He could do that. He could look at this rationally. Gain perspective.

“Well like I said, things were casual. I asked him why he was here. He asked me. We joked about Valenti a bit. Then the power went out and we were stuck.”

Liz cringed. “And let me guess. That’s when things got complicated?”

“Well yeah,” Alex laughed a little and she smiled encouragingly. “He was really annoyed actually, started pounding on the call button. Then he sort of just flopped down onto the floor. I made some joke about irony I think. Ugh, it’s kind of a blur.”

“So he was acting like he wanted out of there?” Liz asked. When Alex nodded she smiled sadly. “But you didn’t ask him why he was anxious, you just assumed he didn’t want to be in there with you.” she guessed.

“Shit,” Alex muttered.

“Okay,” she said, holding up a finger. “That’s Exhibit One. What happened next?”

“I uh sat down beside him, which was a mistake.”

“Why?”

“Cause it made my knee hurt and I started some massaging exercises I learned in physical therapy. And he reached out his hand and he uh…”

“Yeah?"

“He said uh… He said ‘I wish I could.’”

Liz scrunched her nose a bit. “That’s all?”

“Yeah and then I got mad I guess. I said ‘don’t’ and then he apologized and we just sat there in silence.”

“Okay you’re gonna have to help me out here,” Liz said, putting her hand on his, which was gripping his ankle like a vice. “Why were you angry?"

“I don’t know.” Alex moaned, running his free hand through his hair. “I guess, it’s just, we had finally gotten some distance, and I had this plan you know, to move on. And it seemed like we were on the same page for once and then he goes and does something like that and I… I don’t know! Part of me liked it? That he still cared? And I guess that’s what made me mad.” 

“You were mad that he cared about you?” Liz asked.

“No, I…”

“You were mad that you wanted him to?” she tried again. 

Alex looked at her in surprise. “Yeah, I think so. But that’s so stupid.”

Liz laughed. “Love _is_ stupid,” she said simply. Alex didn’t have a response to that. “And that’s it? He started to say he wished something and then you snapped at him and then you just sat there in silence?”

Alex considered lying to her but he decided against it. Talking to her about things had helped so far. Liz was amazing, telling him things that he hadn’t even realized he’d been thinking and feeling. Maybe she could help with this too.

“Well,” he began, taking a big sigh. “The red emergency lights went back to normal and we started moving and Michael was up like a shot, wanting to get away from me.”

“He wanted to get out of the elevator.” Liz corrected him. “You don’t know why. Exhibit Two.” 

Dammit, she was right. He had assumed Michael’s feelings, again. “Right, well I um couldn’t get up so I asked him for help.”

“That’s good.” Liz nodded. 

“And he took my hand and pulled, but I could also feel like this cushion, lifting me towards him.”

“Telekinesis. These bitch ass aliens.” Liz muttered. Alex took a break from his embarrassment to laugh at that. 

“Just something I heard Rosa say once.” Liz grinned, then her face was serious again.

“And then everything would have been fine, but the damn elevator chose that moment to jerk to a stop.” Alex continued. “And I was still unbalanced, and I uh, fell against him and…” 

Understanding dawned on Liz’s face. “He kissed you didn’t he?”

Alex blushed scarlet and looked down. “Yeah,” he muttered at his hands. 

“I have to amend my theory,” Liz said, springing out of her chair again. “You can never tell what Michael is thinking and feeling, except when he’s kissing you. You mean to tell me that you don’t know how he feels? That he wants to move on? That he wants to get away from you? He kissed you Alex, and from what you’ve told me other times, that’s confirmation of my conclusion. The fact that you were both so thrown off by one kiss… It was amazing wasn’t it?”

“Well yeah but…”

“No buts Manes. You fall into his arms, he kisses you, it was amazing. And yet you don’t know how he feels?!”

Alex stood up at that. “But he left Liz! Again! Just like at the pony! With no explanation.”

“Exactly!” she yelled in triumph. “Exhibit Three! You. Don’t. Know. Why. He. Left.”

With that Alex was out of energy for it all. He collapsed back in his chair. “It’s hopeless Liz.” He could feel the tears stinging behind his eyes.

“Theories and exhibits are all well and good. But I’m left in the same place. I can’t be with him. I can’t be without him. I can’t move on. And I can’t communicate for the life of me. He deserves someone else, someone unbroken.”

“Who knows what any of us deserve Alex,” Liz said, crouching down and holding both his hands in hers. “All we know is what we want, and what we feel. And I’ll bet you that if you asked him, Michael would tell you what I am going to say now. That he loves _you._ And he wants _you._ And if you love him back, which I think you do, again, because I’ve talked to you about it, then you owe it to both of you to find a way to make it work.”

“I can’t put it all out there Liz,” Alex was pleading with her, and the tears had broken free of his eyes. “Talking about it in here with you is one thing. But Guerin, he… Michael owns too much of my heart already. I can’t give him the rest. I won’t survive it Liz! I won’t!”

Liz laid a hand on Alex’s wet cheek. “Yes. You will,” she said. “Look at me. Yes, you will. I know you will.” 

He looked at her smiling face, blurry through the tears. “and if I don’t?” he whispered.

“That’s an improbable outcome,” she said. “But if it is the eventual conclusion then I will be here. Every experiment has to include a constant. I will be your constant Alex.” 

She stood up and pulled him out of the chair and into a hug. 

“I’m scared,” he said, holding her tightly.

“I know,” she said, rubbing his back. “But to make progress you have to take chances. Every scientist knows that. But for tonight we’ll go for that walk and we’ll go to dinner and we can keep it _casual_.”

Alex laughed at the callback. “Okay,” he said, pulling away to look at her. “Thank’s Liz. This really helped. I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too,” she said.

“And about Max…”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe _you_ should take a chance too.”

“Someday,” Liz said hopefully. “I think so.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you want more of these emotionally constipated losers. Comments and Kudos are much obliged! Find me on Tumblr at malex-art.


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